Carnival
by LA-ink13
Summary: Deeks talks Kensi into spending the day with him at the carnival. Just a fluffy little one-shot


"Come on Kens. Come to the carnival with me," Deeks begged.

She shook her head. "I don't do carnivals Deeks."

"Scared of clowns or something?" he teased.

"No. I just don't like going to them ok," she shook her head. "I just want to sleep in this weekend and do nothing."

"Nope. You're coming to the carnival with me," he said with a grin. "I'll pick you up at ten. And if you're good I'll even buy you some cotton candy."

"You can't always bribe me with sugar," she said shaking her head.

"Come on Kens. Please?" he gave her a pathetic look. "I don't have anyone else to go with. And it's no fun going alone. Please? I'll never ask for anything again."

She rolled her eyes. "Never again till you want another favor."

"Come on Kens, please. It'll be fun. You know what fun is right? Cutting loose, goofing off. Do you even know how to do that?"

"Yes, I know how to do that. Crashing in front of the TV, eating ice cream. Fun."

"Weren't you ever a kid Kensi?" he asked. "Screaming on rickety roller coasters, eating corn dogs until you puke."

"That doesn't sound remotely like fun," she said shaking her head.

"Come on, it'll be great. I'll win you a stuffed bear and buy you as much junk food as you can eat without throwing up."

"My dad used to always win me goldfish," she said softly, staring vacantly into space. She shook her head. "I mean, fine Deeks. I'll go. Whatever. Just get off my back already."

"You want a goldfish too?" he asked, gently touching her shoulder. "I could do that."

She shook her head, but she knew her eyes betrayed her as they started to water. Abruptly she turned her back and walked away. She knew that he hadn't missed the tears that had formed, but she could at least walk away before he commented on them.

::

He was fifteen minutes early on Saturday morning, but when she saw the coffee cups and bag of donuts in his hand she grinned and let him in.

"Thought you'd like some breakfast before we left," he said passing her a cup of coffee.

"We could stay in and enjoy them," she said teasingly. "You don't really want to go to the carnival do you?"

"Yes, I really want to go to the carnival," he said with a grin. "Next weekend we can hang out on your sofa all weekend and watch movies."

"Who said I want to hang out with you next weekend. Maybe I have plans," Kensi said, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Do you have plans?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No. But that still doesn't mean I want to spend the day with you."

"You're such a pain Fern. But you know you love me."

She paused mid-sip at his words. Setting her coffee cup down she shook her head. "I should finish getting ready."

She shut her bedroom door and leaned against it. She wasn't sure what she was going to do with him. She was tired of denying the fact that she was attracted to him, but she wasn't ready to admit her feelings to him either. She took a deep breath. For one day she would try to set it all aside and enjoy the day.

It only took her a few minutes to finish getting ready and when she reappeared in the kitchen she was surprised to find a fishbowl with green stones sitting in the middle of her table.

"What's that?" she asked, looking at Deeks.

"It's for the goldfish I'm going to win for you," he said with a grin. "I thought it'd be nice if we had a little home ready for him."

Kensi rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. She was going to be nice to him today if it killed her. And when he didn't manage to win her a goldfish, she'd send the bowl home with him at the end of the day.

::

"The Ferris Wheel," Deeks said with a grin. "Please. The Ferris Wheel and then we can go home."

Kensi looked up at the wheel stretching into the sky and shook her head. "I really think I'd rather just go home Deeks."

"We have to ride it Kens. Come on, please?" Deeks begged. "You did so good today, screaming on roller coasters, and riding the bumper cars. Even humoring my while I won your prizes. Just do this one last thing and you can go back to being serious, grown-up, boring Kensi."

Kensi shook her head but let Deeks guide her to the wheel. She hadn't admitted it out loud, but the day had been fun. And for once it had been nice to let her hair down and act like a kid again. True to his word, Deeks had bought her anything she wanted, and he had even won her a stuffed bear and a goldfish. For a few hours she felt like she was a kid again. When he had taken her hand and tugged her toward the merry-go-round hours earlier she hadn't tried to pull away, and they had ended up holding hands most of the day. It was almost like being on a date.

It wasn't until they were strapped into their seats and the ride started to move that Kensi got nervous. As a child she had a fear of heights, but her dad had always talked her into going on the Ferris Wheel and sitting in his lap the whole time. She could feel the childhood fear rising as they got higher, but she closed her eyes and clutched the bear Deeks had won her, hoping he didn't see and tease her about it.

They went around a couple of times, and she was counting the seconds until the ride would end when suddenly it stopped.

She cracked open her eyes and saw they were perched at the top of the ride. Slamming them shut again she held the bear tighter when the basket they were in started to swing back and forth.

"This is my favorite part of the ride," Deeks said. "Looking out over the ocean, watching the waves and the people on the beach. Just swinging back and forth."

She felt him swing the basket again. "Stop it Deeks."

"Stop what?"

"Moving it. Stop moving it," she knew there was fear in her voice but she couldn't help it. All of a sudden she was terrified.

Deeks's arm wrapped around her. "Fern? What's wrong baby girl?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. I just don't want to be here."

"Here with me?" Deeks asked.

"Up in the air," she whispered. "I don't like it. It doesn't feel safe."

"You're scared of heights," Deeks said softly, pulling her closer. "Why didn't you just say so?"

"I thought I'd make myself be fine," she said, burying her head against him.

"I promise Kens, I've got you. I've got you and your safe," he whispered into her ear. "How about you open your eyes and look, maybe that'll help."

She shook her head, but opened her eyes. Instead of looking around, she looked at Deeks. A light wind was blowing through his hair, and his blue eyes were fixed on her in concern. She raised her hand and ran it along the scruffy on the side of his face before she could stop herself. She felt his fingers on her shoulder, then in her hair. When he pulled her face closer to his, she didn't pull away and instead welcomed the feel of his lips on hers.

When she felt the ride start moving again, she pulled away, but settled against his chest. This time when they went around, she watched, and looked at the things Deeks pointed out to her. With his arm safely tucked around her, the fear she had was lessening.

By the time they got off the ride, she was feeling almost embarrassed. But when he put his arm around her shoulder and stole a quick kiss, the embarrassment went away and was replaced with a comfortable feeling of being close to Deeks.

::

She had expected Monday to go differently. She thought that she and Deeks had reached a new stage of their relationship over the weekend, but it was clear that after an hour at work, nothing had changed. Saturday suddenly seemed like a dream and she had a hard time reconciling the man that kissed her on the Ferris Wheel to the one that was sitting on the floor playing with Monty instead of paying attention to her.

By the end of the day she was shooting daggers at him with her eyes and secretly hoping that Monty would turn on him and bite him. Clearly Saturday hadn't meant to him what she thought it did and suddenly she was struggling with how to handle working with a partner who didn't really care about her.

It wasn't until she was home that she realized how hurt she was. As she fed her new fish, she talked to it, pouring out her feelings for Deeks and the confusion she felt, and the fact that she wanted to hurt him because he made her so mad.

She grabbed the bear that he had won her and curled up on the sofa to watch something that would take her mind off of him. But nothing did. She kept hoping he would show up at her door with food and an explanation but he never came.

The pattern continued the whole week, and by Friday she begged Hetty to let her go home early since they weren't in the middle of a case. Hetty had looked at her and glanced at Deeks before nodding and excusing her from the rest of the day of work.

::

Saturday morning she was curled up on the sofa, a donut in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other when she heard a knock at the door. Setting down her coffee she peaked out to see Deeks standing there, holding a stack of DVDs in one hand and a bag from the grocery store in the other.

"I'm not home," she called out.

"Yes you are. I can see you," he answered. "Let me in."

"Why?"

"Because we have a movie date and because the ice cream is melting," he said. "Please Kens, let me in."

She unlocked the door but didn't open it. Walking back to the sofa she sat down and grabbed her coffee. After a few moments he managed to open the door. Shooting her a look he headed into her kitchen to put the groceries away.

"What did I do?" he asked walking back into the living room with a cup of coffee of his own. He sat down beside her. "Just tell me what I did and I'll fix it Fern."

"You know what you did Deeks," she said scooting away from him.

"We had a great time last weekend, and then Monday you were all prickly again," Deeks said with a sigh. "I don't know what I did. Should I have called Sunday? Come over? I don't know Kens."

"I was prickly? You paid more attention to the dog then you did to me," she said angrily.

"Monty didn't look like he wanted to attack me," Deeks answered. "What did you want me to do? Kiss you good morning in front of the whole team?"

"Not in front of the whole team," she said, the words slipping out before she could stop them.

"But?" he pushed.

"I don't know what I expected Deeks. More than what I got I know that. I expected things to be different."

He took her hand and squeezed it. "I wanted that too. But I was worried that you didn't. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable. I was worried what happened on the Ferris Wheel was just adrenaline, and I was scared if I made a move on Monday you'd shoot me down."

"I scare you?" Kensi asked.

"You terrify me, baby girl. I'm worried if I mess up, you'll be gone, and I don't know what I would do."

Kensi shifted until she was resting her head against him. "I'm scared of that too. Monday I thought you decided you had made a mistake."

"I did make a mistake Monday," he said as he wove his fingers through hers. "On Monday I should have told you I had a great time, and that I wanted to do it again. On Monday I should have shown up at your house with dinner and a movie. On Monday I should have kissed you again."

She looked up at him and smiled. "It's not Monday, but you can still do all those things."

As he tilted his head down to kiss her, she grinned. Maybe it was time that she worried less and just let go.


End file.
